A new community center in Boulder Junction opened its doors today. For supporters of the project, it was a long time coming.
It was standing room only at the ribbon cutting as more than 200 people packed the new community center. But five years ago it wasn’t clear if the center would ever be built. Voters rejected an earlier proposal for a more expensive building. With the final price tag coming in under budget at around $2.1 million, Town Chair Charlie Spencer says the investment will pay off.
“There were some people that thought – they didn’t want their taxes raised, they didn’t think we needed a new community center because they didn’t use it that often. But this is a huge revenue generating facility for our town.”
Built to look like an old railroad depot, the new 14-thousand square foot building features three meeting halls that can be rented out. It also houses the town offices and the public library, which now has twice as much space.
Library Director Cherie Sanderson says it’s also more handicapped accessible.
“The other building did not have the automatic open doors, it didn’t have wide enough doors for wheelchairs to go in. A lot of parts of the other building just were not completely accessible for every member of our community – this building is a hundred percent accessible.”
The new library space also has room for more computers.
The project’s fundraising committee has raised nearly $400,000 to offset the cost to taxpayers.